


Echo

by Reibunriinta



Category: Magi: Adventure of Sinbad (Anime), Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic
Genre: Abstract, Also listening to too much vocaloid but shhh, Angst, Gen, idk I was going for a feeling, lots of symbolism and shit i guess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-04
Updated: 2018-02-04
Packaged: 2019-03-13 11:13:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13569411
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Reibunriinta/pseuds/Reibunriinta
Summary: Kil has a nightmare and reflects on the reality of her position in the Mariadel Company





	Echo

Fabricated, everything about Kil’s life seemed so artificial. When she wasn’t faking her existence, who even was she? Was she even human under all the lies she told herself and others to thrive in such a strange and cruel world as the one she knew? 

Everything was white as Kil stumbled out into the hall, the walls were strange, and had patches of them that flicked and cracked as though they weren’t quite real. The floor kept flashing in places, similarly. Kil didn’t even know where she was exactly, hadn’t she still been at the Mariadel company? Still, the floors there were crimson and the walls were solid. Carefully, she lifted her hands up to feel for her collar, and when she felt nothing but the air she nearly stopped breathing. Looking down at her hands, she gasped softly when she realized they were deteriorating, becoming transparent like that of a ghost’s. 

“What?” That was the only question she could think to ask, feeling so strangely numb and unalive. 

“Early as always aren’t you?” When Kil looked up again, Fatima was standing before her, but something about him was off. His skin was see through, only visible at the edges, and his voice sounded strangely stiff as though it was an imitation or something. His clothes were the same as before, but they seemed tighter, as though restricting him. He was wearing his collar like always, but it was red and glowing and there were chains hanging off of it in all directions. Most alarmingly, his face was nothing but a mask made to look like his own, fixed into a permanent smile on his face. 

Curious, and a little scared, she lifted her deteriorating hands and felt for her face. She felt a flat surface, hard like wood but smooth like skin, and to her horror she couldn’t feel anything on it. Where were her eyes? How could he see? What in Solomon’s name was she? 

“I have to say I envy your dedication.” He finally said, his smile as inanimate as the rest of their surroundings. “Well? Aren’t you going to greet everyone?”

Kil opened her mouth to speak again, but nothing was coming out. She had started to panic, when she heard the faintest of sighs and Fatima spoke up again. “Always hesitating huh? Here, I’ll help you!” 

Suddenly, the chains around his neck lurched forward like arms, snaking towards her at a breakneck speed. She tried to flinch back, but soon they wrapped themselves around her wrists and ankles and around her neck. She was scared at first, but then she realized she could feel them, the harsh metal against her skin was frighteningly comforting after not feeling anything at all. 

They pulled her forward then, and before she could resist, her rival had her in his arms and she was staring right up at the mask. Curiously, she tried to peek beneath it, but he smacked her away again before resting a hand at his hips. Even his movements were strangely slow and stiff, and though she recognized him as her old friend and her rival, there was something so inhuman about the way he was behaving. Why was his voice so calm? Why wasn’t he scared? What in the world was going on? 

She tried to ask him what was wrong with him, tried to do anything, but all that came was a weird rasping sound as she tried to speak with a voice that wasn’t there. She began to struggle at the chains then, trying to feel for her mouth or her throat despite knowing already that they wouldn’t be there. Nothing ever was there for her when she really needed it was it?

“Well? Everyone’s waiting for you now get out there!” Fatima chirped before he paused a moment. “Oh...don’t forget your face.” 

Kil could only watch in horror as he retrieved another mask, this one even more disturbing. She recognized that soft brown skin, the piercing golden eyes, and small rounded nose in an instant. She knew her own face of course, but what was so disturbing was that she was looking down at a perfect replica of it. She knew that smile etched there more intimately than she knew her own heart, she knew that expression, it was the one she painted onto herself to hide what no one was allowed to see. Had she really been hiding herself behind this awful smile? Underneath all the lies, underneath the mask, who the hell even was she?

She tried to squirm away as he extended the mask towards her, but soon her face was fixed on her and she could feel her skin again. At first she was relieved, but then she realized that she couldn’t move anything. 

“Give it a minute.” Fatima muttered, before he let the chains drop. 

Before Kil could register what was happening, she was falling with the chains, and everything around her was black. She could feel the air whipping around her as she fell at a speed she couldn’t calculate, her hair whipping all around and her stomach lurching. How long would she be falling? Would she ever see the light again? What in the world was going on? 

Suddenly she heard whispers all around, each one creating a little spot of light and color. The voice was soft, shrill, and fast in pace, echoing endlessly around her as she fell into the abyss. 

“Is anyone listening?” “Can someone help me?” “Is anyone fucking there?!” “I’m so fucking scared someone please answer me!” 

As the pleas surrounded her, Kil drew in a shaky breath. This was her own voice wasn’t it? Was that not what her heart kept screaming? 

“I hate it here! Everyone is so cruel just please someone help me!” “I just want to be free” 

The words echoed all around and she felt herself reaching out to try and touch them, and she managed to grasp at one of the bright pink sounds, holding the thing in her hand she tried to pull it close. 

“Don’t touch me!” The thing shrieked at her, so she let it go in an instant. 

The cries were becoming louder, more desperate, and more frequent. Soon, she was surrounded by the flashing colors, all of them screaming at her on repeat. “Do something! Do something! Do something!”

Covering her ears, Kil let out a sob and hid her face, screaming out for silence. “I can’t do anything to help us! Just shut the hell up already!” 

They all went silent then, and then they began to fade back into the black. The tears fell up with the air as Kil reached out for the lights again, her hand shaking as she cried and felt her frame stiffen. “Wait come back!” She pleaded, hanging her head in shame. “Please come back, I’m sorry!” 

But it was too late, her heart’s cries were gone before she could collect them. She was alone with just the void again, and suddenly she felt like she was in a room made of ice. Shivering, she hugged herself tightly, and tried to think of something warm, still all she could imagine was that awful room that Maader threw her in when she was annoyed with her. So cold...she could practically feel the water below her although she knew it wasn’t there. Nothing was there, and in that moment more than ever she knew her life amounted to nothing. 

Suddenly, she saw something below her, and so she braced for impact. Curling in on herself, she cradled her head and waited for the pain she knew would soon be pulsing through her tired, meaningless body. 

She hit the ground with a thud, and though she was confused at first, she became aware that she was on some kind of stage. Slowly, hesitantly, she clawed her way to her hands and knees before looking around. Everything was still black, around the stage, and partially obscured by a thick red curtain. The stage itself, and her by extension, was brightly lit, and the bright lights after the dark hurt her eyes. She could feel the wood beneath her feet, she could feel the chill in the air and also feel the underwhelming warmth that came from the lights that shined on her. She could feel the tears stinging her cheeks, and all around the only thing she could hear was static, a strange sort of buzzing from all around the bizarre scene. 

She was about to give up, allow herself to cry and curl up on the floor, or maybe try to pry her face off, but then she caught the scent. Maader’s perfume was unmistakable, the scent of rose that the woman practically bathed in when she had guests over, the kind that gave her the headache and made her gag like she’d had the disgusting stuff poured down her throat, ripping past her flesh to attack her senses. The smell alerted her, and so she quickly wiped away her tears, scared of what would happen if she was caught crying. 

She saw the silhouette a moment later, and as always Maader was unmistakable. The shadow slowly turned, and soon Maader’s violet eyes were piercing right into her own, sending a chill down her spine. No sooner than the woman looked at her did she feel something choking her. Lifting her hands once more, she found that the collar was back in its awful place around her throat. The chains that had fallen with her, snaked around her menacingly as though they’d pounced if she made an effort to move. 

“Lady Maader!” She called out, wondering if that’s what the chains wanted her to do? What else would they want? They weren’t any more sentient than she was supposed to be, they only served their mistress, as awful and cold as Kil felt on her worst days. 

Maader strided over to her subordinate, her fingers twitching with impatience. “There you are. You’re late!” She snapped, and then she snatched Kil by the wrist, pulling her up. 

Kil hung her head in shame as she stood upright, fighting back tears again. “I’m sorry...I was….I guess I’m just tired.” 

Maader’s left eye began to twitch, and she rested a hand on her hip expectantly. “Oh Kil...when will you ever learn you cannot lie to me?” 

With a snap of her mistress’ fingers, Kil felt her mouth opening, her tongue already forming the words she would never dare to speak voluntarily. “I hate my life and I want to be free!”

Maader looked angry a moment, but instead of becoming violent as expected, she took a deep breath and released it. Then, her face softened. The chains around them dropped to the floor, and for a moment Kil had high hopes, but then the collar tightened, causing her to rasp and clutch at it. 

Maader rested her hands on the young girl’s shoulders then, pulling her into a tender embrace. Then, petting those soft blue locks, the woman began to whisper softly. “Oh Kil, you’ve been so worried haven’t you? It’s okay my dear, you don’t need your freedom when you have me.” 

Everything went dark again, the stage lights illuminating just her and the woman to whom she was bound, and before Kil could say anything the lights and voices began to swarm again. 

“Don’t listen to her!” They pleaded. “Please you’re better than this! You know she’s lying!” 

The word ‘liar’ began to echo all around, swarming all of them, and Kil could feel the tears streaming down her cheeks. She didn’t want this, she couldn’t want this, but what could she do about it? 

When her heart gave up, the voices stopped swarming, and she allowed herself a sigh of relief. Nothing was left now, she knew that. Just her and her chains and the feeling of being embraced; it wasn’t a real comfort, in fact she was still crying. The tears began to burn her skin, but she didn’t say anything. Her voice wasn’t her own anymore, she knew that, and she began to realize then that her voice hadn’t been her own in quite some time. 

As the dream began to fade, Kil awoke with a start to find that she was asleep on her desk. She felt for the collar at once, and felt it, and then she felt for her face. The skin was her own, and the tears were there as before, but she could move her lips. She could breath, and she knew now that all of that had been an awful nightmare and yet...with mounting dread she realized that her dreams were only an echo of reality. 

She had erased her hearts desire hadn’t she? That’s right, she had given up years ago and she knew for sure now; she would never be free.


End file.
